While Viren rushes to a coronation, Callum and the others make a stop at the Banther Lodge to find a magic cube, but run into more humans there.
While the others sleep, Rayla tries in vain to remove her binding, and after staring down a judgmental Bait, she looks at the boys with worry.
A bell signals King Harrow's funeral procession, though head clergy Opeli is bothered they're doing it so soon, rather than giving a traditional seven days to mourn. Viren states they have to move forward since they're at war, and at a pyre gives a speech about the evil Moonshadow elves and his "brother" Harrow. Opeli says the princes should be their, but Viren lies that they're dead and demands they move forward. Opeli refuses to light the pyre, so he has Claudia do it with magic. Viren tells the crowd they'll have to mourn sevenfold for Harrow in one day, because that night there will be a coronation.
Rayla interrupts Callum as he draws his primal stone, then gives him a lesson on magic when she realizes he knows little about primal energy.
Using his book, she explains the primal sources are the Sun, Moon, Stars, Earth, Ocean, and in his case, the Sky. Due to containing this power, his stone enabled him to use "Aspiro" before without need of a strong wind or storm. She notes how arch mages have searched for the rare stones for years, and now he somehow has one. Callum recognizes the symbols she drew, saying there's a cube at the Banther Lodge with them on it, and he wants to get it in case it's magic. Rayla reminds him they need to get the egg to Xadia, but he points out the lodge is to the east, just like Xadia, and assures her the lodge will be empty of humans. She's still unsure, so he admits that while he's always been bad at things princes do, his success with magic and her calling him a mage felt right to him. Ezran wakes from a silly dream, brushing off their bad circumstances, and Rayla finally agrees to go to the lodge, but tells him to not have any more detours or speeches.
Ezran gets thirsty on the way, so Rayla offers a flask of moonberry juice, disgusted that Callum thought she was giving him blood.
He hurriedly says he's sure the stories he's heard about Moonshadow elves are false, and as they arrive at the lodge he happily points out it's empty. After he draws a map of where the cube would be, Rayla dashes over and into a window. Though Callum is glad, Ezran points out there should be people there, since it's where Harrow was sending them for safety. Just then, a squad led by the boys' deaf aunt Amaya arrives, and though Callum says they're safe and alone, she notices the window Rayla used, and kicks down the doors. Callum yells to Rayla about there being human troops, leaving Amaya confused, and he and Ezran then distract her by claiming the latter skipped breakfast. Amaya gives them some rock-hard bread in the kitchen and reveals Harrow sent her a letter the day prior; Callum realizes he lost the one Harrow gave him. Her letter explained the Moonshadow elf situation and asked her to head to the lodge to guard them. As they finish reading, Ezran manages to saw the bread with a sword, but it doesn't break further when he bites it. Callum grows frustrated, and though Ezran suggests they explain the situation to Amaya, he says humans and Moonshadow elves hate each other too much. Up above, Rayla enters the house again and makes it to the room with the cube, but Amaya finds and attacks her, quickly pinning her to a wall with her shield. She draws her sword, but her interpreter enters with news that the princes are missing, so she simply knocks the elf out. With Rayla captured, the boys have to break her out and make their escape, and news of their survival reaches and irritates Viren.
Along with advancing the story a bit, this episode gives us some insight into the characters' feelings and a clue at current situations.
One of the key things we've seen throughout the show already, but especially here, is the misconceptions humans have about Moonshadow elves. With their cultures clashing, Callum is surprised by what he sees from Rayla, like when he thought she was trying to give Ezran blood to drink. Viren is the prime example of why people believe such silly things about the elves, with his propaganda speech describing the elves' violence after Harrow's "death." On the other hand, there is Ezran, who is a key example of how people aren't born racist, but rather learn to be it. While Callum has already been influenced by the rumors he's heard about the elves, Ezran treats Rayla like any other person and doesn't inherently fear her. At the lodge, he is at one point playing with toys, and his innocent mind leads him to suggest they simply tell Amaya the truth, and she'll understand. He doesn't consier for a second that she wouldn't believe them, but after Callum explains why she wouldn't, he realizes the elf toy he's playing with is monstrous. While Callum is most likely correct that Amaya wouldn't listen to them, I do have to wonder what would've happened if they'd told her the truth. A trope I often see in stories like this is the young protagonists deciding they can't tell older, trusted individuals what they know for one reason or another. The majority of the time they're wrong, and it's rather frustrating to see them withholding information because of worried thinking. Amaya herself is an interesting character, being a female general, deaf, and using a shield seemingly as her main weapon. She does carry a sword and we see her draw it after beating Rayla, but before that she is hulking around a massive shield and using it effectively. Something I didn't consider when first watching this episode was the fact that Rayla struggles to remove her armbands at the start of the episode. In a previous episode, it was explained the elves couldn't take the bands off until their mission, to kill Harrow, was completed. So if Viren were telling any sense of the truth and Harrow is truly dead, why can't she get the armbands off? Since her armbands are still intact, this suggests Harrow might not have actually been killed and burned on the funeral pyre. I had originally thought Viren planned to put his soul in Harrow's body using the two-headed snake, but that doesn't seem to have happened. Now I wonder if perhaps he put Harrow into his captive elf, as that way he'd unknowingly keep the bands intact by keeping Harrow's soul on the earth, but the king would be unable to convince anyone of who he really is. The show has it's quirky moments, particularly it's animation is still odd to me, but so far it's presented an interesting situation and has me wondering and wanting more.
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